Now this is what I've been waiting for and it did not disappoint. I stopped importing the W.I.T.C.H. magazines somewhere in this storyline or possibly before. I was reading them online for a bit, too. But it's been so long that I can't remember.
FIRST ISSUE: A dark seed flies up to Kandrakar and takes root. Yan and Himerish tell the others that Kandrakar is threatened but they don't know any details, so Himerish wants to seal it away from everything. Yan doesn't like this, as it will keep her from Hay. A very determined and forceful Himerish goes to the Vault of Powers and sets loose the elements in their purest form. Meanwhile at night, a stranger enters each girl's room and takes her power away. A very familiar stranger. What the hell is Matt doing? And how? The next day, the girls realize they're no longer magical to a mixed bag of feelings. Cornelia, ever level-headed, is thrilled to no longer be responsible for so many lives. She can just live a normal life now. Irma is distraught because she no longer feels special. At Taranee's, Peter is moving out, while Hay doesn't realize her magic is missing thanks to a series of coincidences. Susan keeps trying to tell Will something, but Matt appears outside and as always, Susan must wait. Or just stop dragging her feet telling her daughter things. She always does this. Matt is completely unresponsive to Will and says they'll talk later. Then why did you go over there? Ugh. At the bookstore, the girls all finally see their powers are gone. We cries. Upstairs, the shop is being turned into a restaurant. Himerish seals Kandrakar off, but Yan leaves a spot open where she can see Hay but not talk to her. Susan blurts out to Will that she and Dean are pregnant and Will runs through a bunch of emotions before settling on happy. The girls all go to Jensen Dance Academy, because for some reason, they're all auditioning together. I don't get why. They're not exactly dancers. They perform their routine for a bitchy new teacher. Beneath the Earth, we meet our big bad for this arc: the Dark Mother. She looks like a pissed off dryad or something. At the end, the girls see five lights shooting through the sky.
SECOND ISSUE: Cornelia dreams of being a little girl lost in the woods, who found comfort in a circle of pebbles. In the present, the pure elements find their girls. Cornelia isn't happy, but I am. I love the new outfits. They're far more tactical because there's way less bared skin. Cornelia's already long skirt is longer and Hay's loincloth is now a full split skirt. Poor Hay always flew with everyone looking up her tiny skirt. Irma's skirt is longer, too, and all these lengths of fabric are now prehensile. I think Will's sleeves might be, too. Will and Irma sport long black gloves and Hay and Taranee have short ones. Cornelia's top also completely covers her hands. She has zero bare skin except for the neck up and there's something very elegant and Cornelia about it. Their wings have gotten huge, too. Anyway, they look great. They quickly realize they're stronger than ever. Taranee looks like the Human Torch. Matt appears and says they can't control their powers. He says he's been with them a long time, has always known their secret and was instructed not to tell them. That's a pretty big bombshell. Matt's from Kandrakar or at least works for it. Odd considering he had a few solo scenes where he didn't seem to know anything. I wonder if there was a mind block or something. He doesn't explain anything about himself, just says that Kandrakar has sealed itself off, so the Oracle sent him to take their powers and wait for the pure ones to find them. The girls have no control over their abilities. Cornelia is balking but Matt says everyone needs W.I.T.C.H. I think people might wonder why Cornelia is my favorite when she does stuff like this, but while it would not be my choice to be normal, I understand why it would appeal to down to Earth Corny. She's in character. And when she does what she knows she needs to, she's also in character. Matt says he's going to be their coach "of sorts" even though he's afraid of their power potential. Will starts to ask something and Matt says "the past will remain safe in our hearts." And that's all he'll say. Poor Will. Oh, the prehensile, sentient fabric is called...lamia. Interesting name choice. Errrrrr. The next day, the girls struggle with containing their powers. Will goes to the doctor with Susan and learns if they're having a boy or girl. Later, they meet with Matt in their HQ. He's already there. Another thing he already knew. He tells the girls they need to find the root of their power and master it, and thanks to Cornelia's dream, she's first. They go on an underground adventure, fight with Dark Mother's roots and her worm-like hunters and win. While the others have to come back through the sewer, Cornelia is transported to the woods where her dream younger self finds her. She says she feels complete after and her parents overhear and tell her that actually happened when she was little. Matt gives Cornelia the symbol of her power, as she's mastered it. She should be happy but on the way home, she sees her mother with a strange man and they touch hands. The others go to the dance academy, where the teacher accepts them all except Hay. She tries to audition again but the teacher says she lacks the flexibility needed. Hay says she's a costume designer and the bitchy teacher gives her an impossible assignment: to replicate a fancy dress by morning. At the end, Will reveals the baby is a boy.
THIRD ISSUE: This entire issue is about the guardians' different vacations. The car breaks down for Will's family so they spend the entire vacation try to get somewhere they never reach. Irma and Hay are going to the beach where they meet a cool couple that they have fun with. Taranee is off to some school where she's bullied, meets a cute boy who doesn't speak much English, and conquers the bullies in the end. Cornelia stays at home, thinking she'll be able to be with Peter all the time, buuuuuuut Bitch Grandma. UGH. It's a filler issue but it's a really fun one this time.
FOURTH ISSUE: This one's a bombshell. I'll skip the exact details, but Taranee learns she's ADOPTED. Pretty major secret for being 78 issues into the storyline. She's upset that her mom kept it from her for so long. She learns that she was rescued from a fire as a baby and Matt tells her this might connect to the root of her power and she needs to learn more. The girls go find the ruins of Taranee's original home, while Cornelia stays in her home and confronts her mother about the strange man she saw her with. Her mother tells her that was a high school boyfriend that she ran into by chance. Cornelia's dad overhears part of the conversation where her mother says he doesn't have as much time for her as he used to, but she told her ex that her family means more to her than anything. Dark Mother's roots attack the guardians, but Taranee masters her power and saves the day. Cornelia's dad whisks her mom away for a surprise vacation. Nice touch, Dad. The last page is Susan being loaded into an ambulance. Looks like she may have been in a car accident.
Whew! That was a lot. And all of it was good. While Dark Mother isn't an interesting big bad (yet?), the storyline with finding the roots of their powers is great and you can't do that without character development, which I always love.
Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.
Cornelia above all the others. She's my favorite by far. Taranee's adoption storyline catches her up to Hay, while Irma and Will remain behind.
FIRST ISSUE: Post-car accident, Susan is fine. On Kandrakar, most of the inhabitants are enjoying the tree, but Yan reminds the Oracle of the tale of Meter, the queen of spring whose desire for power turned her evil. Yep, that's the Dark Mother. Yan suspects the tree grew from one of her dark seeds and shows the Oracle how the other people of Kandrakar circle and protect it. Dark Mother goes after Irma in her sleep, but she wakes up. Stephen is there in the morning. I can't remember if I've already covered this, but while I love the themes of these newer issues, it's so weird to see the old W.I.T.C.H. world eradicated. Since when do all of them have an interest in dance? How did Irma go from stringing Martin along and trying to decide about her feelings for Joel to being ready to be Stephen's serious girlfriend at the snap of fingers? The girls hear noises from their basement HQ and follow them to...randomly meet Stephen who introduces them to U18. That does mean under 18...feet underground. They live fully or mostly in all these spaces underneath Heatherfield. So we've got a crew of totally new characters to randomly take the place of some of the old ones. U18 leads W.I.T.C.H. where they wanted to go, then the girls are able to get rid of them before having to battle some of Dark Mother's minions. Irma finally gets to the place she's been led to and she's forced to choose between love and her magic. Irma chooses love and of course it was a trick, because that was the secret to finding the root of her power. After so many issues of Irma not being ready to be in love, it's nice to see her happy and finally figuring things out, but it still feels rushed because there was no groundwork for her and Stephen. (Another older boy. Sigh.) At the end of the issue, the baby is coming!
SECOND ISSUE: Hay goes to the dance studio to rehearse on her own. There never was a resolution to the bitchy teacher's costume challenge, but it's clear Hay was able to do it and also that she's persisted in keeping up with dance, even though said teacher thought she couldn't do it. There's a lot of comedy over the baby's birth, but...they decided to name him William? Out of all the names, why pick something so close to Will's? At Taranee's, she sits down with her dad and they discuss the adoption. Taranee's mom looked into her birth family and she has info, but Taranee first asks her to sing a childhood lullaby. It's a cute family moment with some good characterization for Taranee's frequently absent father and in the past been bitchy mother. More comedy about Cornelia visiting Peter and the apartment being a sty. Hay and Laura, the teacher, have some nice bonding moments. She's not bitchy after all. More comic relief with Irma and Stephen. They are cute, but I still want to know what happened to Joel. Maybe I didn't catch something when I was reading. Laura admits she's seeing a dancer that's Hay's idol. (But why does Hay have a dance idol suddenly?) But distance has led them to not speak for a long time. Hay encourages her to call him and a phone rings nearby. Turns out he was coming to see her. The issue ends with everyone being happy and the girls giving a dance recital.
THIRD ISSUE: The Hay-centric power root issue. She and her family are moving to the suburbs because they're expanding the restaurant and will need the living space. Hay isn't happy about it. Meanwhile, two hurricanes are converging on Heatherfield. The hurricanes arrive much more quickly than anticipated and W.I.T.C.H. take to the air to try to help. I find it funny that they all can finally fly. There were maybe a couple panels addressing that. Why in the world did they always have wings if only Hay could fly? But that's been fixed now. Hay takes on the hurricanes alone, while the others try to cut the power to the city, because that will help lessen the damage. Taranee is reluctant to leave Hay behind, which is really nice, even though she knows Hay has to face finding the root of her power on her own. Dark Mother managed to use lightning to keep the power on, so the guardians' efforts were for nothing. Hay finds the root of her power and creates a third hurricane, but this one sucks up the other two. Hay realizes she loves her new home, which is named Dragonfly, a theme that flowed through the issue.
FOURTH ISSUE: Will's turn. Of course she's last. Dark Mother plans to lure her to her. At Will's, they're having a party and everyone keeps calling baby William "Will," much to Will's confusion. Then everyone starts calling her Wilhelmina, much to her annoyance. William was a really stupid name choice. Like seriously, why? Will spends most of the issue in a dream state, getting through that while in the real world, she's heading toward Dark Mother. Will finds the root of her power but that also frees Dark Mother and they briefly battle before Will flees. She runs into Matt and the others and everything is momentarily okay.
As with the first volume, A LOT going on here. I continue to love the character development, but the jarring differences are still hard to get used to. Disappearing characters, unresolved relationships, a sudden team interest in dance. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's the equivalent of all the magical girls spontaneously being able to form a band.
Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.
Order remains the same with Hay and Taranee in a tie. Though Irma and Will are closer to the rest of the pack than ever.
FIRST ISSUE: Dark Mother sends out a hypnotic eye through television screens. The guardians run to U18 for help, knowing how tech-savvy they are. Stephen pulls Irma aside and he confronts her about how mysterious she and her friends are. She caves and tells him the truth. Irma then spends a few pages doing magic for him in some comic relief. Though that doesn't really downplay what she did. The others kept their secret from their boyfriends, except for Will and that was mostly because Matt was the focus of multiple attacks. So for Irma to reveal it to her no legwork boyfriend is kinda wild. Dark Mother has created some giant flower that lets her get inside and turn into a perfume that travels to Kandrakar. That's...creative. So she does that and abandons all her followers. One of them has betrayed her and grown more flowers, so W.I.T.C.H. is able to travel the same way. They evaluate how strong Dark Mother is and decide to return to Earth via the flowers and strategize. Hay is against this and mad about it. Matt tells them they can only defeat Dark Mother if they learn to unite their powers. Will finally asks Matt what I've been waiting many issues for her to do: if he loves her. He still does and they finally reconcile. We still don't know Matt's backstory that totally came out of nowhere but at least this is finally resolved.
SECOND ISSUE: Yan keeps repeating Hay's name in her mind and Dark Mother senses that there's one person she doesn't have control of. In Heatherfield, the no-longer-bitchy dance teacher Laura is randomly replaced by a nasty guy. Hay goes to visit Laura who is apparently...sick? There's a South Asian lady with her. I can't tell if she's supposed to be a maid or a nurse or what. Laura gives Hay a nice pep talk and then asks her to deliver a letter for her. The girls all get together in Peter's old room to study. They have both tests and a dance recital on the same day. Seems unrealistic, but sure, why not just keep inventing added pressures for these poor teens? Stephen, Peter and Matt provide annoying (to the girl they're not paired with) distractions. Will is taking charge and trying to organize everyone, but they're all tired by the end of the day. Hay suggests they all go deliver Laura's letter. It's to a capoeira instructor and the girls fall in love with it. After being given a book on the movements and some songs, they decide to try it out in Peter's old room. The next day, tests are done and it's time for the recital. The girls combine capoeira with actually displaying their magic, though it appears to be special effects. Not that anyone could figure out how they did any. Everything goes great. Except on Kandrakar, where Dark Mother created doubles of the girls to trick Yan into revealing that she's the one not fully under control. The next day, Hay learns that Laura has passed. Time flows oddly in these issues, because it's clearly been quite a long time, which we know from William's birth, but it still feels very sudden to have Laura there four issues ago and now she was so sick that she's died. Hay does a dance for Laura in Laura's garden and the issue ends.
THIRD ISSUE: While the people of Kandrakar scream, the guardians fight because they're mad at Irma for telling Stephen. They go to meet Matt and are very cocky about their upcoming fight. I've never seen all the girls be this arrogant, but I suppose mastering your powers will do that. And yet when they go to Kandrakar and decide to split up, exactly what Matt said not to do, they're very easily defeated. Hay is the one left standing and she frees Yan, who yells at her and says she hardly recognizes her. Yan's pep talk wakes everyone up and they're able to join together in time for form a physical representation of their united power. This female figure takes on Dark Mother. She's able to capture Dark Mother in a ball and then turns herself and the ball to stone, forever imprisoning the dark earth spirit. The Oracle is devastated that he failed so badly. And again, I'll address this change. What happened to the triumvirate? Endarno is suddenly not there. The Oracle seems to be the only one with power. At the end, Will deals with baby William...who has wings!
FOURTH ISSUE: Will is struggling to hide William's magic from his parents. Irma is hiding from Stephen because she suddenly doesn't know how to handle that he knows. Hay wants to be more independent. The guardians are summoned to Kandrakar, where they have to help remove Dark Mother's evil roots. They do so accompanied by Yan and five cables fueled by W.I.T.C.H.'s powers now hold up Kandrakar. Once they return, Himerish reveals that Yan is the new Oracle. They have a celebration and Yan does it with her typical humility and down to earth style. She gives the girls some interesting gifts and restyles Kandrakar with her powers. On Earth, Hay tells her parents she wants a job not in the restaurant, Irma and Stephen are cool, Taranee is the new assistant teacher at Jensen, Peter and Cornelia are cute, and Will is going to teach baby William about magic. Himerish leaves Kandrakar smiling.
So that wraps up the New Power arc. Definitely one of the strongest ones in terms of character development. If only it weren't for the loose ends, it would hold up with the original two storylines as the strongest.
Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.
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